Sepsis is a systemic infection that leads to immune dyshomeostasis, organ failure, and in severe cases morbidity. Cohen J, “The immunopathgenesis of sepsis” Nature 420:885-891 (2002). Approximately 750,000 people develop sepsis annually commonly after an initial diagnosis of community-acquired pneumonia (CAP). Angus et al., “Epidemiology of severe sepsis in the United States: analysis of incidence, outcome, and associated costs of care” Crit Care Med 29:1303-1310 (2001). Recently it has been reported that mortality in sepsis patients increases with age, although there is no direct correlation in the expression levels of key cytokines and transcription factors. Martin et al., “The effect of age on the development and outcome of adult sepsis” Crit Care Med 34:15-21 (2006).
What is needed in the art is a quantitative proteomics platform in order to identify age- and outcome-related differences in global protein expression in plasma obtained from sepsis patients.